**5.6. Peter Artedi**

22 New Approaches to the Study of Marine Mammals

**Figure 5.** Illustrations from Tyson's (1680) description of the internal anatomy of a porpoise. Notice the

remarkable accuracy of the depictions.

Artedi20 was the son of a parish priest who developed an interest in fishes from an early age. He studied medicine at the University of Uppsala, devoting most of his time at studying natural history. At 29 years of age he went to London for a year to study natural history collections and described the sighting of a whale in November 1734, probably downstream of the London Bridge. He then moved to Leiden, The Netherlands, to complete his medical studies and there he met Linnaeus, whom he knew from their native Sweden, forging a lifelong personal and professional relationship. Linnaeus introduced him to an Amsterdam chemist, Albert Seba, and Artedi started working on Seba's fish collection. Artedi died at the age of 30 by drowning in an Amsterdam canal. After his death, Linnaeus recovered his manuscripts and published *Ichthyologia* (1738) without amending Artedi's original work. Despite the fact that this was an unfinished work, it was a fundamental publication that marked the origin of ichthyology as we know it today. After a long (96 pages) introduction describing previous authorities on ichthyology the second part deals with the taxonomic terminology he used, particularly regarding the concept of genus and distinguishing between species and varieties. His system set the basis for the modern systematic classification of living organisms later established by Linnaeus. In part three he went into the classification of species including detailed description of them, some of which he had dissected himself. For this Artedi is considered the father of ichthyology (Wheeler 1962, 1987, Broberg 1987).

<sup>20</sup> *b*. 10 March 1705, Anundsjö, Västernorrland, Sweden; *d*. 27-28 September 1735, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Artedi separated actual fishes from cetaceans (which he called "plagiuri") based on the plane of the caudal fin. He described 7 genera and 14 species including the manatee and the "siren" as follows:

When Whales Became Mammals:

The Scientific Journey of Cetaceans From Fish to Mammals in the History of Science 25

Linnaeus (or Linné)21 had as a father a country person who loved plants. Linnaeus followed a medical career but was actually more interested in botany than in anything else. Linnaeus met Artedi in 1729 and their interests were complementary: Artedi, a zoologist interested mostly on fishes, and Linnaeus, interested in botany. He would later edit Artedi's book in ichthyology that was published in 1738. What Linnaeus learned from Artedi set the basis for

Even some of Linnaeus students were developing a better understanding of cetaceans as being really close to "viviparous quadrupeds." That was the case of Pehr Löfling22, one of Linnaeus' students who came very close to making major contributions to the true nature of dolphins and manatees based on his observations of these animals in South America. In his description of Amazon freshwater dolphin or boto, Löfling was clear about when writing that whales and dolphins were different from fishes: "Pisces per pulmonibus spirantibus." However, his early death and the fact that his manuscripts were never published prevented him from gaining recognition in the scientific community (Romero *et* 

With all of this background, the botanist Linnaeus was ready to revolutionize biological classification and in the 10th Edition (1758) of his fundamental work *Systema Naturae*, he introduced the term Mammalia, and included *Cete* among them. For Linnaeus, mammals were united by having hair, being viviparous, and producing milk. He coined the term *cetacea* and separated them from fishes and grouped them with the rest of the viviparous quadrupeds based on the following characteristics: two-chamber heart, breathing by lungs,

Thus, Linnaeus revolutionized the science of systematics by developing a fully natural system of classification, using consistently the binomial nomenclature, and designing species with Latinized names (genus and species). He developed a hierarchy (class, order, genus, species) as proposed by Artedi, with species defined as similar individuals bound together by reproduction, which also set the basis of the biological species concept. The use of telegraphic speech-like (very short sentences) diagnosis for species descriptions and the standardization of synonymies (same species with different names) in order to reach a taxonomic consensus made his classification even more useful since from now on one could find clarity on what a particular species was tracing its description to other authors. He also doubled the number of species described by Ray. Thus, despite the fact that he was not a zoologist *per se* nor was involved in dissection of animals, he was far from a compiler in that

a better classification not only of plants but also animals in general.

hollow ears, internal fertilization, and production of milk.

he applied critical thinking to the way he ordered nature.

<sup>22</sup> *b*. 1729, Valbo, Sweden; *d*. 22 February 1756, Guayana, Venezuela.

<sup>21</sup> *b*. 23 May 1707, Stenbrohult, Småland, Sweden; *d*. 10 January 1778, Uppsala, Sweden.

**5.7. Carolus Linnaeus** 

*al.* 1997).

#### Order: Plagiuri

*Physeter* 

 *Balaena major* (Ray, p. 15) *Balaena macrocephala* (Ray, p. 16)

#### *Delphinus*

 *Delphinus* (*Phocaena*) (Art. Syn. 104) *Delphinus* (*Delphin*) (Art. Syn. 105) *Delphinus* (*Orca*) (Art. Syn. 106)

#### *Balaena*

 *Balaena vulgaris* (Ray p. 6, 16) *Balaena edentula* Fin-Fish (Ray p. 6, 10) *Balaena tripinnis* (Ray 16) *Balenae* (*Balaena tripinnis*) (Ray 17)

#### *Monodon*

*Monoceros pisces* (Will. 42, Ray 11, Charleton 168)

#### *Catodon*

 *Balaena minor* (Ray p. 15) *Balaena major* (Ray p. 17, Will. P. 41)

#### *Trichechus*

 *Manatus* (Rondelet p. 490, Gessner p. 213, Charleton 169, Aldrovandi 7 28, Jonston 223)

#### *Siren*

#### *Homo marinus*

Artedi established the basic classification of fishes that lasted for about 200 years and separated cetaceans into a totally different order than fishes; he apparently knew that they were different, but still tradition was difficult to break and thus he included them into his ichthyological treatise. He also established the basic branching of animal groups into Class, Maniples (Families), Genera, and Species, a system that was to be closely followed by Linnaeus (Wheeler 1987, Broberg 1987). His work set the foundations for what Linnaeus would culminate as the definitely recognition of cetaceans as distinct group within mammals.
